Weeklong crosstown event boosts local businesses

If you’ve ever caught yourself calling Lansing a boring town, a new weeklong celebration hopes to correct your cynicism and give you a new perspective on your community with a veritable gauntlet of fun stuff to do and great deals to check out.

Sarah Pierce has taken it upon herself to champion nearly all things native to Greater Lansing. The digital event compendium service she created, 517 Living, has been tracking down and promoting just about everything going down locally since 2014, and now one of the biggest happenings Pierce has ever helped organize, 517 Living Community Week, which runs from Friday (Oct. 1) to Oct. 7, is encouraging Greater Lansing businesses, organizations and individuals of all sorts — artists, galleries, churches, you name it — to join together in order to stuff an entire week full of special events and promotions in order to promote and celebrate the culture of the capital region. 

“Any business can participate in any way that they would like. But I do encourage them to think outside of the box. I have people that tell me, ‘Hey, I don’t know how to participate.’ I say, ‘Well, you’re focused on wellness, so host a wellness class,’” Pierce said. 

So far, 517 Living Community Week has compiled several dozen participating events. Highlights include Spell Con, a convention originally founded in New York that focuses on the occult and paranormal, at The Artitorium on Cedar Street, the Witches & Warlocks children’s party in downtown Williamston, Design & Build Day at the Impression 5 Science Center and an exhibit by Lansing artist Adrienne Gelardi at the Cedar Street Art Collective. 

Even if a location is unfit for a special event such as live music, a hands-on demonstration or an interactive class, it can still participate in 517 Living Community Week by simply offering a special discount on its goods or services.  

“There’s specials for people to save on dining at local restaurants and there’s discounts from local businesses, like printing and massage — all kinds of stuff,” Pierce said. 

517 Living Community Week originated as 517 Living Community Night, which was hosted at Henry’s Place and eventually Woldumar Nature Center. 517 Community Night was a party that featured mini pop-up shops from local vendors and live entertainment from Lansing musicians and performers. When the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, Pierce rearranged 517 Living Community Night into an online series of events, such as special live streams or flash sales, with multiple hosts that would go down at different times throughout the week. 517 Living Community Week takes that concept back to reality. 

“This year, it’s all spread out. There’s no official in-person gathering hosted by 517 Living, but there’s multiple events hosted by different local businesses and organizations,” Pierce said.

Pierce began 517 Living in order to learn more about local events herself. She scours social media, finding just about everything going down in Greater Lansing and sharing it with her thousands of followers on her own Facebook profile, website and email newsletter. 

“I felt like I was always out of the loop. I wanted to create a project that would help myself get more connected with the community and get others more connected with the community. It’s a group effort,” Pierce said.

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